Posts Tagged ‘basketball’

Basketball superstar LeBron James broke new ground last week with an original kind of non-apology. Let’s call it a phantom apology, apologizing for a non-offense instead of for the real offense.

James left the Cleveland Cavaliers after last season to join two other superstars on the Miami Heat. No problem with that: he was a free agent. But he did it in a particularly ugly way that was gratuitously hurtful to his fans in Cleveland. The hurt damaged his image with fans everywhere.

Last Wednesday James led his new team to a victory in the quarter-final series of the playoffs over the Boston Celtics, the team that had knocked out his old team (the Cavaliers) last year. In the flush of victory he tried to repair his image. But a real apology would have admitted he did wrong. So James came up with the phantom apology.

Instead of apologizing for the ugly hurt he had caused, he semi-apologized for jumping to Miami—an act that was entirely honorable and ethical. Semi-, because he went on to explain that his move was a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to get past the Celtics and compete for the championship, His entire statement is here.

So James gets credit for apologizing without accepting blame for what he did.

Brigham Young is a regional basketball power, having gotten to the NCAA tournament 25 times, even though they never got past the round of eight. But this was to be their year: the Cougars are 27-2, rated third in the nation and in line for a top seed in March madness.

Their star is all-American guard Jimmer Fredette, who is supported by a solid group led by 6-foot-9 forward Brandon Davies, who averages 11 points and 6 rebounds a game. But Davies was dismissed from the Cougars team yesterday for an honor code violation. To the university the honor code is more important than a national championship.

Davies transgression, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, was having premarital sex with his girlfriend. That wouldn’t be a violation in most places, but BYU has its code and it takes its code seriously. BYU gets a Chip Kelly award for putting its code above winning.

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*Chip Kelly, Oregon Ducks football coach, suspended his star running back for poor sportsmanship right after Kelly’s first game as Ducks coach

Seton Hall University is the oldest and largest Catholic university in New Jersey. It also has been a basketball power, on and off, for the past 60 years. This year the Pirates seemed on the verge of returning to the elite of college basketball, posting a 19-13 record, including 9-9 in the Big East Conference, the nation’s toughest.

The return was led by coach Bobby Gonzalez, who posted a 66-59 record over four years. But Gonzalez brought a mixed blessing to Seton Hall: the university often had more reason to be ashamed of the Pirates than to be proud of them. Gonzalez repeatedly clashed with everybody: his players, opposing players, his coaches, opposing coaches, game officials, and his superiors at Seton Hall. Players he recruited were charged with serious crimes.

Tuesday it ended. In the afternoon a player Gonzalez had just kicked off the team was arrested (more…)